Welcome to my blog. I have upwards of 100 projects in various stages of incompletion or total abandonment, so you may well find something of interest if you rummage about a bit. I concentrate on air and naval wargaming, but other 'skirmishy' things quite often pop up out of nowhere, only to disappear again after something else grabs my attention. I even finish the occasional project now and again!

Thursday, 1 June 2017

Royal Navy China Station White

I've been doing some research on the paint schemes used on Royal Navy warships stationed in the Far East, specifically on the China Station c1900-1905. In the Mediterranean, Atlantic, Channel and Home Fleets the standard scheme for ships of the line was black hulls, white upper works and buff masts, funnels and fittings. This is what most people think of as the Edwardian era pre-dreadnought 'look' and very splendid it was too, no doubt.

However, on the China Station and presumably other hot locations around the far flung British Empire, a different scheme was employed consisting of white hulls, white upper works and buff masts, funnels and fittings. I assume that warships deployed to the Far East were re-painted when they arrived in Singapore, Hong Kong or Wei Hai Wei, unless they had been re-fitted or under repair prior to their departure.

A few of these warships would, therefore, be seen in their black, white and buff schemes, at least in the short term and before they could be re-painted? Anyway, I'll be painting my 1/2400th scale models in their full China Station white scheme, which will be relatively simple and should save me a bit of time. I think a basecoat of white, followed by the decks painted a suitable shade then the buff added, finishing off with some detailing and black lining will do the trick.